


Alien

by Leorge_Gucas



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Character(s), Alien Culture, Animal Death, Character Study, Families of Choice, Family Secrets, Gen, Self-Discovery, Self-Doubt, eel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 05:54:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20670401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leorge_Gucas/pseuds/Leorge_Gucas
Summary: It ain't easy being Boba Fett, not with half the galaxy on your heels. The trick is then to make the other half your ally.





	Alien

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I have this entire fic planned out and about a third of it written down. At the moment, I don't have the time to edit/tweak/post further chapters. I'm still stoked about the plot and I might continue it in the future. That's why I'll leave everything as is. Enjoy but keep that in mind while reading.

Sea-mice were adorable creatures with black button eyes, and tiny pink paws that turned into flippers when they touched water – Jango Fett used them to feed his pet eel.

And Boba Fett looked after them till the eel got hungry.

His father had allowed him to keep a couple in his room. It was Boba’s job to feed and water them, clean their cage and look after the young. And when the time came, he knew what had to happen. So was nature.

“Nothing natural about throwing something that never had a taste of the outside world in a glass cube with a foe it can’t outrun,” he heard Zam complain once, but Jango insisted.

Boba wasn’t bothered by the feeding. It made him proud, in a weird way, to reap the fruits of his labor. Jango had trusted him with an important task and he would see it through to the end. Today, however, Boba was _very_ bothered. A litter had been due but after giving birth something in mama mouse’s head snapped. Something that made her eat her own babies. Boba had watched them scream and screech and wiggle their tiny pink paws – but mother was ruthless. For a boy his age he had seen a lot and even knew how to gut a fish. But this was different. Much different. Yet Boba didn’t close his eyes because looking away wouldn’t help the babies and maybe he could understand by watching. Turning a blind eye, on the battlefield or in life, was bound to get you in trouble.

He wasn’t disgusted. He was confused.

What made a mother turn this way? Boba never had a mother so he didn’t know an awful lot about them. Father mice didn’t eat their young … or did they? No matter how much he thought about it, Boba just couldn’t figure it out.

Later that day, before Zam came to visit, he fed mama mouse to the eel. _Good riddance._

But now, when it was time for his bedtime story, he couldn’t bring himself to focus at all. His mind went a million miles per second trying to find answers to questions he hadn’t asked.

“Are you listening?” Zam put down the book she was holding and playfully snapped her fingers at him. “If I have to read this chapter twice, my pay rate doubles.” Not even her jokes could cheer him up. It was serious. “Is it about the mice?” Boba gave a weak nod. “I don’t understand,” he confessed. “She ate her babies. Her own! Why would she do that?”

“Well, she gave birth to these babies but that didn’t make her a mom. Being a mother is what comes later, Boba, and it’s not easy at all.”

“Like being a bounty hunter?”

“Much harder.”

Boba’s eyes widened in disbelief. Could that be? He wasn’t convinced.

“A good mom would rather die herself than see her children harmed.”

“She wasn’t good then,” he muttered and thought of the mouse with her full belly being easy prey for the eel. “She didn’t love them.”

“Maybe. Sharing nothing but blood isn’t enough to love someone.”

“It isn’t?” Boba asked, intrigued. He didn’t know about that. Jango taught Boba he was the only one who mattered to him because he was his flesh and blood, his son, _his._ He had always taken his father’s words at face value. But learning new things was fun to Boba so he kept prodding Zam for answers. “Shouldn’t family look out for each other?”

“That’s right. That’s the way it should be. Brothers looking after sisters, and sisters after brothers.”

He thought of the clones, his million creepy twin brothers, and made a shiver run down his back. There it was again. That disgusting feeling he didn’t understand. Going by his father’s logic the clones were family too. Although he always stressed that Boba was his only son, the only _true_ clone – it just didn’t sit right with him. Zam’s finger softly touched his nose and he felt a cozy warmth chase the creepiness away.

“Family is much more than blood, Boba Fett.”

He held on to her words and cherished them. He waited, watched her tuck him in like a trained professional. If his eyes would just close already, if he just fell asleep, this would’ve been the perfect time but there was another nagging thought at the back of his mind. Zam’s presence was like rare candy. When she left, sometimes, she wasn’t back for months. Boba felt obliged to get the most out of her visits. And moreover, there were some things he just couldn’t ask his father. Some things only Zam knew the answer to.

“Zam?”

“Yes, Boba?”

“Do parents ever leave their children?”

Boba remembered his father left him all the time, to do his job. That was different.

“Forever?” he added.

A moment of silence weighted down on them before Zam had thought of something to say. “In a perfect world, no.” The wrinkles around her eyes looked more pronounced all the sudden. “But it’s not a perfect world we live in. Some people just aren’t meant to be parents, and sometimes such people have kids. It’s neither pretty nor right but it’s best for everyone if they … quit trying.” He recognized the sorrow in her voice but couldn’t place it. Was it about his father? Maybe that was why he left him all the time, because he couldn’t stand life with Boba. The great Jango Fett was a bounty hunter after all and that’s what he did best – not apartment life and parenthood.

Suddenly Boba was very worried. He didn’t show it – and didn’t have to – as Zam already knew what was on his mind. Maybe she was not only a shapeshifter but a telepath on top of it. Gently she placed her hands over his. “Lucky for you, Boba, you got the best dad anyone could dream of. I wish I had a father half as great as him when I was your age.”

“We can share him,” Boba offered without hesitation and a chuckle grew from the sly smile on her lips.

“Are you a parent, Zam?”

“I think I’m good. Your father and you keep me on my toes.”

He beamed at her, proud of his accomplishment, whatever it meant.

“Good night, Boba.”

“Night, Zam. Come back soon.”

“As soon as I can. Look after your dad for me.” He nodded eagerly, eyes half-closed already, and watched her slender silhouette vanish in the hallway. Then he drifted to sleep and dreamed he was a sea-mouse chasing eels through an ocean of stars.

**Author's Note:**

> Starting slow with little Boba. Will eventually include some other bounty hunters too - stay tuned!
> 
> PS: I will add relevant tags and warnings as the fic goes on.


End file.
